Homage at a Home Alt

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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. HOMAGE AT A HOME ALTAR:

THE GOLDEN WEDDING ANNIVERSARY OF

ASA AND SARAH PACKER

Craig Wilson Van Blarcom

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of the University of Delaware in partial fulfillment o f the requirements for the degree o f Master of Arts in Early American Culture

Summer 1997

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UMI 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, MI 48103

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. HOMAGE AT A HOME ALTAR:

THE GOLDEN WEDDING ANNIVERSARY OF

ASA AND SARAH PACKER

Craig Wilson Van Blarcom

Approved: a.

charge of thesis on behalf of the Advisory Committee

Approved: Curtis, Ph.D. of the Winterthur Program in Early American Culture

Approved: John C. Cavanaugh, PltD. V iaP ro v o st for Academic Pro: and Planning

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to thank Gail Caskey Winkler for introducing me to the Packer

Mansion. Her memories of visiting the house inspired me to see it myself. My thesis

adviser, James C. Curtis, helped to focus my attention on a single moment in the life of

the mansion. David Schuyler graciously volunteered to give the paper a close reading.

Most importantly, I am grateful to John D. Gunsser, former Curator of the Asa Packer

Mansion, for opening his personal collection of Mauch Chunk memorabilia to my study.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT...... v TEXT ...... 1 ENDNOTES ...... 42 BIBLIOGRAPHY...... 53

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ABSTRACT

This study examines the nineteenth*century social and physical context of the

Asa Packer Mansion in Mauch Chunk (now Jim Thorpe), Pennsylvania- Asa Packer,a

coal and railroad company executive, and his wife Sarah built this Italianatc villa in 1860

on a prominent bluff above the community. The mansion’s dominance over the

surrounding landscape prompts questions about the Packers’ identity, and what

motivated them to build this house. The influence of their social peers is pertinent to this

discussion, because the Packers strove to win their approval. It is also useful to consider

how Asa and Sarah Packer communicated their status to Mauch Chunk residents.

To understand what the mansion and its setting meant to the Packers, their

peers, and local residents, this study focuses on one event which happened there. On

January 23, 1878, members and close friends of the Packer family invited hundreds of

guests to attend a celebration in honor of the couple’s fiftieth wedding anniversary. The

cultural complexity of this event is revealed through analysis of two journeys: the

Packers’ development as a social force in their community, and their guests’ procession

through Mauch Chunk and into the mansion. The Packer Mansion was well suited for

this type of inquiry, because only two generations lived in the house before it was set

aside as a family memorial. Newspaper accounts contained in an anniversary scrapbook

were another important primary source for this study.

I !

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. The results of this research show that Asa Packer saw the community as an

extension o f himselfj and that the mansion was at the center of his efforts to earn the

admiration of his peers and fellow citizens. The Packers’ anniversary gala wasa

carefully planned ritual designed to display the family’s wealth and establish rules of

membership in a new class. Moving through the landscape was an important part of the

experience, because it reminded guests of the symbolic and material layers which

separated the Packers from the outside world.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. In the middle of winter, specially chartered trains from Philadelphia brought

visitors to the Borough ofMauch Chunk, Pennsylvania, for an important celebration.1

Boosters dubbed the occasion the Lehigh Valley’s greatest social event in memory.

Carbon County was eager to honor its most renowned citizens. Asa Packer, a coal and

railroad company executive, and his wife Sarah Blakslee Packer were celebrating their

fiftieth wedding anniversary. Trains pulled into Mauch Chunk throughout the afternoon

and evening of January 23,1878. Invited guests traveled free of charge that day,

courtesy ofPacker’s company, the Lehigh Valley Railroad. The moment that guests

stepped off the train, they entered his world. Although he did not own the borough, as

the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company once had, he utilized it as a statement ofhis

own success.2 To reach the celebration at the Packer Mansion, guests traveled through

the borough on foot or in carriages. The journey from the railroad station to the

mansion was an important part of the event, because it reminded participants of Asa

Packer’s leadership role in the community.

A detailed discussion of this event reveals the complexities of the Packers’

cultural milieu.3 Every word, object, building, and landscape which survives from the

event symbolizes broader themes. Although the gathering was short-lived, it resulted in

countless intersections o f people, places, and ideas. Participants experienced the event

conceptually as well as tangibly. The way that guests moved through the landscape

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. influenced how they understood it/ The procession through the borough and into the

mansion was a kind of choreographed ritual designed to impress both the Packers’ peers

and their fellow citizens. The Packers were the architects o f the journey as well as its

destination. Their challenge was to carefully plan every element of the anniversary

celebration, but make it appear as a spontaneous outpouring o f praise. Three elements

were necessary to the success of this event as a social ritual: a stage, a cast of

characters, and a suitable occasion.

The anniversary celebration was emblematic of the Packers’ social prestige

and the dominant roles they played in their community. It was the crowning moment of

a pair of lives devoted to the highest Victorian ideals, and a powerful expression of a

mansion’s ability to convey social status. On that day in 1878, the Packer Mansion was

fully transformed into the ceremonial space which it was designed to be. It functioned as

a “home altar” where the Packers’ friends and acquaintances could gather to praise ideals

they held in common.5 The anniversary celebration was more than a festive occasion; it

was intended to be a mimetic moment. As Asa and Sarah Packer paid tribute to each

other, they also sought a permanent place in the history of their community.

The Packers’ willingness to host a highly publicized gala shows that they

were confident of a positive response. They understood that social status was not

achieved through wealth alone, but through posture and display. By the time of their

fiftieth wedding anniversary, they knew what their peers and their community expected

of them. The Packers and their children were consummate Victorians, because they

embodied the ideals of home, family, and morality, and because their wealth allowed

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. them to live up to those standards. They came of age when communication and

commercialization had created new forms of wealth. The Packers, like many Victorians,

were not bom to social status and privilege. They earned respect by amassing a fortune,

and then by accurately assessing the role they could play within their community’s social

structure.

At this anniversary celebration, the Packers and their peers were creating the

mythology of a new class. Invited guests professed to attend in honor of the couple’s

life together, but they also traveled to Mauch Chunk to pay homage to shared ideals.

This event and others like it helped to canonize certain objects and modes of expression

as tokens of class membership. Victorians subjected their every activity to intense

scrutiny, because they were formulating a set of social guidelines for their heirs to

follow. As Kenneth Ames puts it, they “believed in the ceremony of daily life as a way of

attaining elegance and personal nobility.”* Descriptions of the Packers confirm this

assessment. At the wedding anniversary, guests praised the couple for “dispensing a

princely hospitality with rare and cordial grace and courtesy.”7 The emphasis which

popular culture placed on etiquette contributed to the illusion that privilege conveyed

authority.

Victorians believed that the weight of their economic capital, if not their

moral superiority, gave them the right and duty to be leaders. They were convinced that

they knew what was best for America, and that they would teach the nation how to

achieve that vision. The Packers’ long, prosperous lives symbolized the success of an

entire generation of Victorians. Asa Packer, said a contemporary observer, is “the most

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. worthy example o f a. great and worthy generation, whose energy and industry have made

the mountains to yield up their riches ”* Wealth alone did not earn the Packers the

respect of their community. Instead, the Packers’ demeanor toward their fellow citizens

determined whether their possessions were considered appropriate or excessive. Over

the course o f their marriage, the Packers successfully converted their wealth into moral

authority and social preeminence.

In an age which celebrated the heroism of "great men,” Asa Packer met all

the criteria. He could have defined himself solely on the basis of what he owned, but he

chose instead to measure himself by a moral standard. He considered himself a role

model for ambitious working-class Americans. To fulfill that role, he cultivated the

image ofa modest, God-fearing Episcopalian. The perception of Asa Packer as a plain

man of simple tastes became entrenched during his lifetime, and has since become a

community legend. “While he has accumulated vast wealth,” noted one source, “he has

administered it with a liberal and enlightened judgment. . . and has been a great power in

. . . the advancement of civilization.”9 Another said, “His home is an elegant one, but it

is plain like the man who rules there. He has no extravagant pleasures He does not

need the luxuries of life and never indulges in any of them.”10

While nineteenth-century Americans frequently proclaimed the virtues o f

equality, they also created a popular image that the nation was a kind of benevolent

feudal society. Titles, both earned and honorary, fascinated Americans during the Civil

War. The notion that a wise and wealthy “judge” ruled from the county seat inspired

loyalty to the community. Asa Packer did not formally earn that title, but acquired it

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. when he briefly served in Carbon County government. The moniker stayed with him

throughout his life and helped to reinforce his reputation as a moral leader. As he grew

older, he earned additional respect as a seasoned veteran of life. Victorians believed that

successful old men were “sages” whose wisdom exceeded their years. Contemporary

descriptions of Asa Packer often had a picturesque quality which reinforced that notion.

A reporter at the Packers’ fiftieth wedding anniversary celebration declared that “it was

impossible to throw off a feeling ofawe of a certain ldnd in the presence of the man who

controls so many millions.”11

Sarah Packer, like many women of her social status in the late nineteenth

century, earned public respect by association with her husband. At the time of the

anniversary, the local newspaper praised the “sympathy and moral support of the gentle,

wise, and unassuming lady.” It also stated that “the young wife proved herself a

helpmeet indeed” and that she was “a model of humble comfort and happiness.”12 In

their congratulatory notes, several of Asa Packer’s colleagues recognized his “good

lady” for her role as a devoted wife and mother.13

The perception of the Packers as a caring and generous “royal family” was

rooted as much in the way the Packers’ local community saw itself as in how it saw Asa

Packer. Mauch Chunk wanted to show the world that it was civilized. Without Asa

Packer’s presence on the hill, Mauch Chunk would have been just another coal company

town. The Packer Mansion, a symbol of its owner’s power and prestige, was likened to

“a castle o f the olden time on the flowing Rhine.”14 References to the Rhine Valley are

not surprising, because many Pennsylvanians had family roots there. The Rhine River’s

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. association with the Middle Ages and fairy tales also made it a popular theme in

Victorian music and literature.

Like others of their status throughout nineteenth-century America, the

Packers became the architects of a symbolic web of power. Their success was not due

to money alone, but to their ability to judge the social rules which governed their world.

The Packers were experts at interpreting Victorian ideals to fit the needs of their

community. Their rise to power closely paralleled the good fortunes of the village where

they chose to live. As a relatively young town, Mauch Chunk was an ideal place for the

Packers to build a reputation as pillars of their community.

hi the 1820s, Josiah White and Erskine Hazzard proved the economic

potential o f coal mining in the region which now encompasses Carbon County,

Pennsylvania. Soon afterward, the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company founded

Mauch Chunk as a company town. Mauch Chunk made an efficient port for coal

shipments, because it sat between the Nesquehoning coal fields and the Lehigh River,

and between the boroughs of Allentown and Wilkes-Barre.

Topography, as well as the company’s monopoly, helped Mauch Chunk to

prosper from a captive market. Canal boats could not be navigated beyond that point in

the river except during fast-moving, unpredictable spring freshets. A dam on the Lehigh

River allowed barges to move from the canal along the east bank of the river, to the

dock on the other side. The dam was necessary because the canal diverted most of the

river’s flow. Within a few years, the coal company built a canal along the river and an

inclined plane, the Switchback Railroad, to transport coal from the mines to the canal.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. The boom-town reputation of communities like M uch Chunk attracted

settlers from throughout the northeastern United States. Asa and Sarah Packer were

among those who heard the promise ofburgeoning investment opportunities along the

Delaware and Lehigh Canal network. Their move to Mauch Chunk was the turning

point in a classic rags-to~riches American tale, In discussing the Packers, contemporary

observers often made light o f Asa Packer’s transformation from farm boy to urban

socialite and business tycoon, contrasting “the fullness o f the present with the scant

beginning.”13 Asa Packer was bom in 1806 in Mystic, Connecticut, and spent his

childhood there. After learning the carpenter’s trade from his uncle, Asa Packer left to

seek his fortune in northeastern Pennsylvania.1* With a note o f astonishment, a reporter

later described how Asa Packer “built with his own hands the house he was to live in for

the first eleven years ofhis married life.”17 He first settled in Susquehanna County,

where he met his wife Sarah. Like her husband’s family, Sarah Blakslee’s family had

roots in New England. When Asa and Sarah Packer were married, they followed many

New Englanders and their descendants on the journey westward.

An expanding world of river trade greeted Asa and Sarah Packer when they

arrived in Mauch Chunk in 1833. By that time, the Lehigh Coal and Navigation

Company had opened the village to outside investment. A political change later assured

the town’s future prosperity. In 1843, Mauch Chunk prevailed over nearby Lehighton to

be named the seat of Carbon County, a new jurisdiction created from parts ofMonroe

and Schuylkill Counties. Asa Packer earned a modest income building canal boats with

an uncle, and he augmented his wages with real estate investments. A combination of

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. business acumen tnd fortuitous timing helped him to rapidly build a fortune. Speculators

set the stage for him, but in return, he provided capital to sustain the village's economic

growth.

Although Mauch Chunk benefhted from river traffic, the canal was not a

reliable means of transportation. Despite the channeling of the river, flooding was a

perennial problem, both on the Lehigh River and on Mauch Chunk Creek. The canal

walls occasionally washed away, and business ceased every winter when ice choked the

canal. Many investors believed that railroads were only useful as a portage between

waterways. The cost o f replacing canals with railroads seemed prohibitive, but Asa

Packer gambled that profits from year-round coal shipping would outweigh the initial

investment. He invested heavily in the unbuilt Delaware, Lehigh, Schuylkill and

Susquehanna Railroad, which was chartered in 1846 to connect the Lehigh Valley region

with the transportation networks of the Delaware River.11 Soon after construction of the

began, the company was renamed the Lehigh Valley Railroad, and Asa Packer became its

president.

Packer’s company gave him a geometric rate of return, and the lack of any

significant income tax meant that he kept nearly all of his earnings. He spent much of his

time in Philadelphia, raising capital to expand his company’s operations. He became a

commodities trader, rather than a site manager. Asa Packer’s increasing reputation and

political aptitude led him to run for national office. Between 1853 and 1857, he served

two terms as a Democratic Representative in the United States Congress.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. By 1860, the Pickers’ adopted home town of Mauch Chunk was firmly

established as aregional commercial center. Just above the Packer Mansion, near the

summit of Mount Pisgah, Upper Mauch Chunk took shape as acommunity of railroad

and mine workers. Across the Lehigh River from the original Mauch Chunk settlement,

the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company established East Mauch Chunk as a suburban

development for its clerks and other middle-class residents. Asa Packer spent his money

in ways which reinforced the community’s sense of pride and prosperity, and which

reminded neighbors o f his status. His gifts began to extend beyond Mauch Chunk and

into the broader Lehigh Valley region. In the 1860s, as the result of encouragement

from an Episcopal priest, Packer endowed Lehigh University in South Bethlehem,

Pennsylvania. His goal was to provide a free-education for those who could not afford

it. By insisting that the university adopt a name other than his own, Packer reinforced

his reputation for generosity.19

As Asa Packer became a recognizable force in eastern Pennsylvania, it

became important for him to symbolize his power in a personal and tangible way. Like

many of his peers, he demonstrated his status by building a mansion house and by

showing his fellow citizens how to appreciate it. The Packers chose an architectural

display which demonstrated their association with the economic elite and established

their position relative to local residents. They wanted both groups to consider the

mansion a fitting tribute to a successful capitalist. When the Packers made plans to build

a mansion in Mauch Chunk, they envisioned it as a monument to themselves, as an

inheritance for their children, and as a landmark for the community. Their fiftieth

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. wedding anniversary celebration later allowed them to define how future generations

would interpret this legacy.

The Packers and their peers were eager to establish a social order which

placed them at the pinnacle of society. The quickest way for Victorians to create a sense

o f control was to put their own unique stamp on the landscape. This objective made it

important to establish standards of taste, and to ensure conformity with those standards.

Victorians sought to establish rules for every form o f expression, and in doing so, they

reinforced a growing cultural distinction between image and substance. The home was a

prime example of this dichotomy. From the Victorian point of view, a residence was

both a functional dwelling and a manifestation of moral principles. Victorians argued

that a proper living environment had the power to inspire virtue.

The construction of mansion houses resulted from changing ideas about the

relationship between managers and workers. Before the nineteenth century, managers

often lived in close proximity to the sources of their wealth. They communicated status

through large and well-appointed houses which often served as the focal point of a whole

complex of buildings. The manager’s house sometimes served the dual purpose of office

and residence. Later, managers isolated themselves from day-to-day operations by

building homes at a distance from workers and their labor. The Packers built the

mansion to secure their membership in the ranks of the economic elite, and to

demonstrate their social distance from the local population. Even when Asa Packer was

absent, the mansion symbolized his control over assets which lay beyond the sight of

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. local residents. It signified both the proximity of his watchful eye, and his disengagement

from the labor winch produced his fortune.

Changes in industrial technology also provided an incentive for wealthy

Americans to build large and ornate houses. In the late nineteenth century, the United

States experienced a revolution in the availability o f domestic goods. Mass-produced

items began to replace products built by individual craftsmen, and mechanical technology

allowed for more frequent and significant changes in material culture. With mechanical

technology at the forefront of cultural change, exploiting that technology became a

means for wealthy Americans to demonstrate their social status. The problem with this

strategy was that mass-produced goods were also available to the middle class. To

distinguish themselves from their fellow citizens, wealthy Victorians designed their

homes as stages for display, and self-consciously used objects “as props for the drama of

life.”20

As the children of working-class families, the Packers did not inherit a style

vocabulary for the expression of wealth. When considering the design for a new

mansion, the Packers made choices by observing the style preferences of their more

cosmopolitan peers. Asa Packer’s frequent business trips to Philadelphia made it

necessary for him to maintain a residence there, so he bought a row house in the Old

City, not far from the docks which accepted shipments of Lehigh Valley coal. By the

time the Packers bought this house at 722 Spruce Street, the surrounding neighborhood

of Greek Revival houses near the Philadelphia Hospital was not as fashionable as it once

had been.21 Many of Philadelphia’s wealthiest residents had moved to new

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. neighborhoods in the western part of the city. Cost was not a significant factor for the

Packers, so other reasons motivated their decision. The Packers understood that money

could not buy them acceptance in the highest echelon of Philadelphia society. They

realized that their money was better spent in Mauch Chunk, where they were more likely

to gain quick social recognition for their efforts.

The Packers’ experience in Washington also affected the choices they made

about the mansion’s appearance, because they encountered social spaces decorated in the

latest styles. The Packers did not spend much time in Washington, however, because

Congress only met for a few months of the year, and Packer needed to be present for

only the most important floor votes. In addition, Asa Packer’s clout as a railroad

executive made it easy to travel comfortably between Washington and Mauch Chunk.

Sarah Packer probably accompanied her husband to Washington for significant social

events. As a wealthy Victorian woman, Sarah Packer was expected to be familiar with

the latest taste in clothing and interior design. In the 1850s, many houses in Washington

were designed and furnished in the Greek Revival and Italianate styles. Both of the

Packers took memories of these houses with them when they returned to Pennsylvania.

The Asa Packer Mansion embraced traditional concepts of residential design.

Its three-and-one-half story central section followed the Georgian plan which had been

popular in America since the early eighteenth century.22 In a typical expression of that

formula, five bays were spaced at equal intervals across the front facade. A prominent

central cross gable emphasized the symmetry of this arrangement. A two-story, two-bay

wing extended from each side of the central section. The east wing stood a few feet

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. lower than the west wing, because this was a service area, and the ceilings were lower

than elsewhere in the house. The house was built of a soft brick which was meant to be

painted. The Packers’ contemporaries described the mansion as “a handsome two-story-

and-a-half structure, painted a light straw color, with ornamental cornices and fronted by

broad verandahs.”33

The same set o f conventional design principles governed the building’s floor

plan. The central section had a hallway with rooms on either side.34 The hallway

connected the front entrance with the carriage drive in the back. The main staircase rose

at the rear of the hall on the west side, and a landing split the first and second floors. As

in most Victorian homes, “it was... possible to enter each room from the hall without

passing through any other, thus preserving privacy and the specialized function of each

space.”29 The parlor extended along the hallway’s west side. On the east side, a sitting

room faced the front of the house, and a dining room lay behind it The wings were only

accessible through the rooms on either side of the hallway. The parlor led to the library,

which occupied the first floor of the west wing. The dining room opened into the east

wing, which was divided into three rooms: a kitchen, a pantry, and a laundry room. In

the kitchen, one flight of stairs led down to the basement, and another led up to quarters

for the household staff

The mansion included each of the rooms which Victorians considered

necessary for facilitating family life and for entertaining guests. They chose a design

which created separate areas for men and women, parents and children, and family and

servants. As large as the mansion was, the Packers thought of their house in functional

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. terms. Each room had a distinct social use, and the interior treatments and decorative

objects in each room echoed that purpose. The Packers embraced popular styles,

because more distinctive choices would have set them apart from their peers. Through

entertaining, the Packers proved that they understood how these spaces were meant to

be used.

The mansion’s library typified the specialization of room use in Victorian

homes. In the homes of the wealthy, the gentleman of the house made this his sanctuary.

Asa Packer’s library comprised the first floor of the mansion’s west wing. Strategically

placed doors insured that household traffic did not flow through this room. Only one

door opened into the library from inside the mansion, and an exterior door allowed for

private entry and exit. This informal entrance allowed Packer to welcome dose friends

and associates without setting in motion the elaborate front hall greeting ritual Home

libraries often featured bay windows like the one in Asa Packer’s office, lit a sense, the

bay window was a visual gateway to the surrounding landscape. It provided Packer’s

guests and business partners with another opportunity to admire the fruit of his labors.

With its French doors and bay windows, the mansion represented a dramatic

departure from the average Mauch Chunk dwelling. Reporters at the anniversary

celebration were especially impressed with the "massive frames of the plate glass

mirrors.”26 Before the advent of electridty, windows were an important earmark of

wealth. Interior light and air were commodities which the wealthy could afford to buy in

greater amounts. The sheer number of windows or panes of glass in a house was a

measure of economic means.27 By the nineteenth century, the free circulation o f air

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. throughout a house was also considered crucial to good health. When the industrial

revolution made it possible to mass-produce windows, domestic architecture for the

wealthy began to incorporate windows in more eclectic shapes, sizes, and colors.

Although the Packers* house was conservative by the standards of their

social peers, it had no equal in Mauch Chunk. A nearby residence approached it in size,

but not in design or finish. Josiah White, a founder of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation

Company, built this house in 1822.“ A later owner updated the house to resemble an

Italianate villa, but it was a halting attempt to accommodate new trends. The Packer

Mansion, by contrast, was concaved and executed entirely in a stylistic mold. It retained

its unique status in Mauch Chunk until 1874, when the Asa Packer built the neighboring

Harry Packer Mansion as a gift for his 24-year-old son. This Second Empire-style house

set a new standard of taste, but its placement within the existing family compound

diminished its importance as an independent statement of wealth. Through this gift, Asa

Packer created a separate identity for Harry, but continued to exercise control over his

affairs. The mansion’s construction also reinforced the notion that the Packer legacy

would survive for generations to come.

The Asa Packer Mansion was designed in the Italianate style, but it exhibited

the decorative trappings of other styles. Italianate features included “eyebrow” or “drip”

moldings above some of the second-floor windows, wide cornices with ornate brackets,

and a veranda which wrapped around the first floor. The mansion’s low-pitched roof

and cupola were also Italianate features. By contrast, the pointed arches of the window

openings and in the brackets between the posts of the veranda were Gothic Revival

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. motifs. Egyptian Revival, Neo-Grec, and “oriental” features also appeared on the house.

Egyptian Revival details included window openings which splayed from top to bottom,

and iron columns with papyrus-inspired capitals. Carved wooden lintels above the

second- and third-floor windows, as well as the S-curves of the roof brackets, typified

the Neo-Grec style. The ribbed, tent-like veranda and cupola roofs showed Chinese

influence.

With the exception of the central hallway and a few adjoining rooms, the

building’s interior treatments were representative of popular taste just prior to the Civil

War. Although other styles were gaining ground, the Greek Revival style continued to

exert a strong influence on the basic form of objects and of architectural details. The

exaggerated size of doors, moldings, and baseboards in the house showed Greek Revival

influence. Another expression of that style was a smoothly turned balustrade with a

cylindrical newel post.29 Like many well-appointed houses of that period, the mansion

probably also had monochromatic, molded center medallions in the ceiling. Woodwork

was darkly stained like the balustrades in the service areas, or grain-painted like the

moldings in the kitchen and in the library. Doors and moldings in the service areas were

grain-painted to mimic the appearance o f oak, which was considered a utilitarian wood.

The moldings in the library imitated the look of walnut or mahogany, which were

considered desirable woods for a gentleman’s room. Other rooms were painted with

flat, natural colors or with ashlar finishes which resembled neatly cut stone.30

In keeping with the mansion’s design, the Packers decorated in the Greek

Revival manner, which favored harmony over discord. Balance and geometry were more

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. important than individual expressions of style. The Packers bought the highest quality

furniture available, but they did not furnish their rooms lavishly. Given the privileged

social context in which they lived, their lifestyle could be called a simple one. The

Packers’ parlor set appeared in catalogues which the George Henkels Company of

Philadelphia published in the 1850s. Henkels furniture epitomized the Rococo Revival

style which was popular in the 1850s and 1860s.31 The mansion was also decorated with

many pieces of Greek Revival furniture.32

As was the case in many Victorian homes, Asa Packer’s library was

decorated as a gentlemen’s realm.33 The Elizabethan-style furniture in the room reflected

popular notions of masculine taste.34 These objects were monumental in scale and

featured bold carving, dark finish, and leather upholstery. The bookcase, which was the

largest piece of furniture in the library, included a set of antlers mounted just below its

top molding. The shelves of books provided a decorative backdrop which set a somber

tone for the room. A large free-standing desk also conveyed the idea that gentlemen

conducted business there. The more suitable an object was for its appointed role,

Victorians asserted, the more likely it was to instill moral values.

The Packer Mansion was exactly the kind of residence which Victorians

prescribed as a symbol of class membership. As proof of the importance of these

residences, the Packers and their peers continuously updated their homes to demonstrate

their knowledge of current tastes. Social respectability was a constantly changing

equation which was based on several different factors, including age, marital status, and

economic means. The Packers emulated their peers as a gesture of kinship. To stay

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. current, they learned to be careful consumers of the right goods. These objects became

especially important as touchstones of major events in their lives. As the Packers moved

into a new stage o f life, they acknowledged that achievement by updating their home. In

1877, just prior to celebrating their fiftieth wedding anniversary, they remodeled the

mansion’s public rooms.39

The remodeling project added hister to a respected image. It was a

calculated effort to reinforce the Packers’ status among their social peers and among

Mauch Chunk residents. In the twenty years since the Packers had built the mansion,

their peers had become increasingly demonstrative in their wealth. By the 1870s, the

relatively plain interior treatments associated with the Greek Revival and Italianate styles

did not seem to match the fortunes of a railroad executive. The mansion still enjoyed a

grand setting, but the landscape could not compensate for outdated interior

appointments. The construction of the Harry Packer Mansion made these inadequacies

more obvious, because it showcased the latest styles. Although Asa and Sarah Packer

could take credit for this addition to the Mauch Chunk landscape, they needed to make

their own social statement.

In addition to their upcoming wedding anniversary celebration, another event

inspired the Packers to remodel the mansion. During the 1870s, Asa Packer served on

the Centennial Commission, which organized and promoted the 1876 Centennial

Exposition in Philadelphia. As Pennsylvania’s alternate delegate to the exposition,

Packer had ample opportunity to consider decorating ideas for the mansion. Like his

former Congressional colleagues in Washington, Asa Packer’s friends on the Centennial

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Commission were wealthy men. Social interaction with these men and their wives once

again introduced the Packers to stylish, cosmopolitan homes. Even in their old age, the

Packers invested in stylish new objects and architecture in order to maintain their social

identity.

The Packers’ role as the most important social brokers in their community

did not require them to change the mansion’s exterior appearance. Respect for the

original vision of the architect may have restrained them, but it is more likely that they

spent their money where it would achieve the greatest social effect The decision to

renovate only interior spaces confirmed the Packers’ desire to re-emphasize the

difference between public and private spheres o f interaction. At this stage in their lives,

the Packers found it more important to separate close friends from acquaintances, than

to underline the differences between themselves and Mauch Chunk residents. Growing

self-consciousness about fine distinctions between social classes led the Packers to

embellish the rooms which they used for entertaining. Transformation of these rooms

was extensive and symbolic, while improvements to service areas were limited and

practical.

The renovation posed the challenge o f creating a social display with just the

right mix of conservatism and creativity. The result was a predictable interpretation of

Victorian styles. The most significant change involved the complete reworking of the

central stair hall. On the first floor, the Packers modified the dining room and the sitting

room, but they left the parlor and the library relatively untouched. On the second floor,

the bedrooms received only minor adjustments. New plumbing facilities, however,

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. prompted extensive changes to the master bathroom and to the master dressing room.

Documentary evidence does not conclusively indicate whether the Packers made any

changes to the mansion’s original floor plan. Newspaper reports state that “an addition

had been built” onto the dining room, but it is unclear if the room was actually enlarged,

or if the dining table was simply extended into the adjacent sitting room.36 Any

additional space for the dining room was taken from the sitting room, because the

exterior walls in this part of the house were unchanged. It is doubtful that the room

expanded into the stair hall, because a large new staircase was the centerpiece of the

remodeled public spaces. The installation of a triple window also made the dining room

appear larger. This type of window treatment was not typical of mansion houses built in

the 1860s, but it became common in the late nineteenth century.37

The mansion's new interior treatments made appeals to the religious

sensibilities of the Packers and their guests. Details like Gothic-inspired woodwork and

stained-glass windows formed a symbolic link with S t Mark’s Episcopal Church, where

the Packers were influential parishioners.3* Pointed arches and linen-fold patterns testify

to the renewed popularity of the Gothic Revival style in the 1870s, a generation after it

first became fashionable in America. By the time the Packers remodeled their house,

stained-glass windows had become a standard feature in large Victorian homes. These

windows were often placed above stairways so that light would splash throughout the

entry hall. In the Packer Mansion, the stained-glass windows in the hallway and dining

room also served the practical purpose of hiding the ice house, porte cochere, and rear

driveway.39

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Consistency of design and workmanship created visual ties between the

remodeled rooms. Elaborately carved wooden paneling covered the lower section of the

walls, and textured treatments applied over plaster decorated the upper section.40 The

central stair hall had oak paneling, and walnut covered the dining room and sitting room.

Door and window surrounds were particularly ornate. Each door was faced in two

different kinds o f wood, so that it would match the rooms on either side. Light fixtures

also formed an integral part of the design. At the time of the anniversary, these fixtures

were gas-lit, because electricity was not introduced to Mauch Chunk until after the

deaths of Asa and Sarah Packer. The ceiling fixture in the dining room was typical of the

gasoliers which were installed during the remodeling. Its Moorish-inspired brass frame

was custom-fitted to the woodwork, and it formed an integral part o f the ceiling

design.41

At the time the Packers remodeled their house, wealthy Americans often

used sitting rooms and dining rooms in the same social ritual. The sitting room was the

stage for both the introduction and the conclusion to Victorian dining. The social, if not

physical, distinction between the two rooms also allowed men and women to retire to

their own spaces. The importance of these two rooms in entertaining guests convinced

the Packers to make extensive changes to them in time for the anniversary celebration.

Craftsmen used a high degree of skill in carving the Gothic, Moorish, and

naturalized features throughout the dining room and sitting room. A particularly ornate

set of panels in the dining room stood in contrast to the orderly tone of the surrounding

woodwork. Each image showed a different hunting scene, a popular theme in

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. nineteenth-century decoration. These panels conveyed the scenery in a surprising

manner. While the figures were straightforwardly modeled, the surrounding countryside

resembled the landscapes of Impressionist painters.42 One of these panels appeared

beneath the exterior windows, and another embellished each of the pocket doors

between the dining room and sitting room. Although carved images did not appear

elsewhere in the room, woodwork throughout the space displayed a high level of

craftsmanship. Every surface, including the ceiling, contributed to the design.

In the master bathroom, the Packers installed Minton tiles that closely

resembled the tiles in the fireplace surrounds of the sitting room and dining room. The

dressing room’s built-in closets had Gothic-inspired doors with fanciful Renaissance-

Revival hinges. These details recalled the woodwork in the neighboring Harry Packer

Mansion.

The parlor was the only room whose appearance was recorded at the time of

the anniversary. An artist’s sketch of the receiving line during the celebration showed an

overmantel mirror and some ceramics. Rectangular panels adorned the walls and ceiling,

and a coved comice had a pattern of floral vines which complemented the painted

pattern below.43 A newspaper reporter at the anniversary party noted that the walls in

the Packers’ parlor and in the sitting room were “handsomely frescoed.” In the

nineteenth century, this term did not necessarily refer to the technique of painting on wet

plaster, but to a wide range of decorative embellishments.44

While the Packers took great care to update the mansion’s wall and ceiling

treatments, they were not as concerned about embracing new trends in the decorative

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. arts. At the time o f the anniversary party, they owned only a few pieces of furniture in

the latest styles.43 Instead of embracing the Victorian notion o f picturesque “clutter,” the

Packers remained faithful to a simpler stylistic language. A reporter at the anniversary

celebration remarked that the Packer Mansion “was furnished in chaste elegance,” which

implied that visitors found it plain.4* Another columnist wrote that the house was

furnished “with regard to home comfort.”47 By that account, the Packers’ furniture was

adequate, without being self-indulgent. Anything less than “comfort” was not worthy of

their social status, but anything more might have been considered vain.

Fine art held little interest for the Packers. The walls were adorned with

only a few objects, because the Packers did not own many paintings or other artworks.

A reporter at the anniversary celebration commented disdainfully that their collection

contained nothing but “portraits.”4* Prior to the Civil War, portraits were the most

common subject matter for pictures displayed in American homes. By the time of the

anniversary, however, fashionable homes featured a wide range of artistic genres. As

romantic subject matter increased in popularity, portraits began to lose their earlier

appeal. The Packers were conversant in the material culture of their class, but not

masters of it.

The remodeling of the Packer Mansion was not a minor effort to install

modem conveniences in the house, but a prelude to the most important episode in the

couple’s life together. The mansion was the perfect stage for a celebration, because it

was unequivocally the Packers’ domain. Victorians self-consciously used material

objects to symbolize their powerful position in society. To convey their social agenda,

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. they used two different but intertwined realms o f communication: the public display of

architecture and landscape, and the private sphere of interior design, furnishings, and

decorative arts. The pageant of formal entertaining satisfied both of these ambitions.

The golden wedding anniversary celebration was an opportunity for Asa and

Sarah Packer to define how history would treat them. To interpret the occasion as

nothing more than a social gathering misses the broader theme of remembrance. The

Packers used the event to write the script for their own legacy, and to hold themselves

up as models for the community to emulate. They also conceived of their fiftieth

wedding anniversary celebration as a rite of passage from one generation of Victorians to

the next. Reaching this milestone was a rare occurrence in the nineteenth century. In

speaking to the guests at the celebration, the minister who married the Packers noted

that a golden anniversary was “an honor which very few attain to.”49 He began his

address by referring to the date of the couple's marriage: “Who of us thought of this

celebration on the night o f the 23rd of January, 1828?”

The committee which organized the festivities included the Packers’ grown

sons, Harry and Robert; Asa and Sarah Packer’s son-in-law, GJ3. Linderman; Sarah

Packer’s brother, James Blakslee; and Asa Packer’s business associates, Robert

Lockhart, Robert Sayre, Charles Skeer, and E.P. Wilbur. Asa and Sarah Packer’s

daughter Mary attended the celebration, but did not have an official role in its planning.

Records of the event conflicted about when the anniversary committee set

the date for the party, and when it issued invitations. A few respondents claimed to have

scheduled the day for months in advance, but many of them asserted that they had only a

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. few days’ notice. Newspaper accounts said that the anniversary committee surprised the

Packers, but it is doubtful that preparations were made in complete secrecy. The idea

that the Packers did not expect a celebration or plan ahead for it was a conceit that the

committee maintained with diligence. Despite the significant reworking of the mansion’s

interior, the anniversary committee made it appear that the event was unplanned. One

newspaper reported that the couple was only told about it on the Saturday before the

event. In reality, only the details were kept secret from the honorees. In the usual

fashion, the Packers received credit for their modesty. The invitations were sent “before

the Judge or his good lady knew o f it—and then it was too late to countermand.”50

Invitations announced that a reception would be held at Asa and Sarah

Packer’s Mauch Chunk residence on Wednesday evening, January 23,1878, between

three and five o’clock, and then again between seven and ten o’clock. Invitations were

printed with gold-colored ink on stiff white paper. Included with the invitation was a

card which said simply, “No Presents.”51 This request made certain that guests could not

repay the Packers’ hospitality, and would remain indebted to them. Many of those who

attended already owed a great deal to Asa Packer for his patronage o f their businesses.

Although the gifts rule was enforced, “Mr. Packer was earnestly pressed to forego his

objections in this regard.”52

The Packers intended to impress the community with the size of the event,

and with the importance of the guests. “But not all who came there were rich; many a

humble but faithful employee was present, and received the same courtly attention as the

men who count their dollars by the million.”53 The railroad granted its clerks a rare “half

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. holiday’'to give them a chance to participate in the event9* The guest list consisted of

nearly a thousand names.55 The fact that the anniversary committee had the power to

grant hundreds o f free passes on Packer’s Lehigh Valley Railroad insured better

attendance than might have been expected.* The committee’s insistence on holding the

celebration mid-week meant that fewer people were able to make the journey.

Although a complete list of invitees does not survive, other forms of

evidence provide clues about its contents. Regret letters and telegrams from invitees, as

well as calling cards from attendees, survive in the Packers’ Golden Wedding

Anniversary Scrapbook.57 The committee cast a broad net when it announced the

festivities. Some of the guests were personal friends, and others were political or

business acquaintances. Close friends included the Reverend Samuel Maries, who

married the couple in 1828, and the bridesmaid, Mrs. Amos Williams.5* The entire

Packer family, including three grandchildren, was also present.59 Although newspapers

described the anniversary celebration as a local holiday which involved the whole

community, their accounts focused on those who had strong personal ties with Asa

Packer. Prominent among them were coal traders, coal dealers, bankers, lawyers, and

government employees, including a member of Congress.60 A few of them owned rival

business empires.

Among those known to have been invited, Philadelphians were the best-

represented group, followed by New York City residents. Other invitees were from

eastern Pennsylvania cities, especially Allentown, Bethlehem, Wilkes-Barre, and

Scranton. The committee sent invitations to a few figures of national renown, including

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Cornelius Vanderbilt, a multi-millionaire shipbuilder; Samuel Tilden, an 1876 candidate

for the U.S. presidency; and Samuel Sloan, a Philadelphia architect" None of these men

attended the Packers’ anniversary celebration, but the committee’s overture suggests that

Asa Packer considered himself their social peer. Both Republicans and Democrats sent

their praises by telegram." The company of several “elderly sages” and “conspicuous

persons” at the celebration gave a sense of otherworldliness and moral virtue to the

proceedings.® Episcopal church clergy were heavily represented at the event."

Prominent academics, including the President ofLehigh University, also attended.

Newspapers pointed out which of their employees were there, and spoke of

them as honored guests. Among the organizations which covered the event were the

Associated Press, the PhiladelphiaTim es, and the New York World.*5 These newspapers

and organizations were sympathetic to Asa Packer’s Democratic Party politics.

Supportive journals sent the editor-in-chief or a senior staff member to cover the event,

and printed the story on the front page. Less sympathetic ones like the Philadelphia

Inquirer buried it in other news. In a postage-stamp article with the headline “The Coal

Men,” the Inquirer described the event as little more than an inconvenience:

The Lehigh Valley operatives were to have met in this city yesterday to adjust prices, but this was prevented by the attendance of a large number of the operatives of that region at Mauch Chunk upon the golden wedding of Mr. and Mrs. Asa Packer."

This treatment stood in contrast to the more positive assessment of the Philadelphia

P ress, which devoted an entire column of the front page to the story"

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. The anniversary celebration created a vivid and lasting impression, even on

those who never set foot in the mansion. The event’s potential for gossip extended far

beyond the parlors and dining rooms where invitees gathered. Word o f mouth was still

the most effective means o f communicating in the valleys of northeastern Pennsylvania.

Mauch Chunk residents observed the guests’ procession from the railroad station to the

mansion, and household staff watched the festivities from inside the house. The march

from town to mansion was designed to impress both residents and visitors with Asa

Packer’s wealth, prominence, and power.** Shared memories o f this event became an

instant part of community mythology.

Chartered Lehigh Valley Railroad trains from Philadelphia brought visitors

to Mauch Chunk at 1:30 p.m. for the afternoon gathering, and at 6:40 p.m. for the

evening event.49 These trains also stopped in Allentown and Bethlehem to pick up many

of the Packers’ close friends. Although the festivities were not scheduled to begin until

3:00 p.m., a large number of guests gathered at the Lehigh Valley Railroad Station an

hour earlier.70 The station stood at the foot of Bear Mountain, just across the Lehigh

River from Mauch Chunk’s central business district. The scene was bleak when guests

stepped out of the train. Afternoon arrivals saw a landscape which coal mining had

nearly stripped of all trees.71 The surrounding mountains confined travelers to a narrow

gorge of the Lehigh River valley. To urbanites who arrived in the village in 1878,

Mauch Chunk seemed like a defiant gesture of self-reliance in an isolated and demanding

environment. Upon reaching the mansion’s front porch, a reporter from the Philadelphia

P ress commented on “the dreary prospect from the Gibraltar-like rock upon which his

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. home is built.”72 Evening travelers did not confront the landscape in the same way,

because darkness shrouded the mountains, and g»s-lit streets concealed industrial

facilities and railroad yards.

After exiting the train, guests waited for carriages to escort them to the

mansion. Their journey into the borough took them over the Lehigh Navigation Canal,

the Lehigh River, and the New Jersey Central Railroad. Several railroad buildings and

warehouses stood along the track, which ran parallel to Susquehanna Street. Across the

street was Mauch Chunk’s largest hotel, the Mansion House. This hotel was well-

known to tourists who sought a mountain respite from urban life. It was advantageously

situated on the road which led south to Lehighton and north to Allentown. Many of the

Packers’ guests stayed there during their visit, because its location was attractive to

railroad travelers.

Beyond the hotel, a continuous streetscape of businesses extended toward

the center of town. The sidewalk was made of stone, and wooden awnings sheltered it.

In the 1870s, the older buildings on the street housed small businesses like oyster bars

and retail shops on the ground floor, and residences above. Most of these buildings were

two- and three-story vernacular buildings dating from the heyday of the Lehigh

Navigation Canal. In the late nineteenth century, an entirely different type of

architecture heralded the arrival of mass-produced goods. These new buildings were

larger than traditional forms, and they often served strictly commercial uses. Details like

false fronts and Italianate cornices distinguished them from older, more utilitarian

buildings. The most impressive of these buildings was the home o f Asa Packer’s Lehigh

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Valley Railroad.73 The front facade, which faced Broadway, featured large picture

windows on the first floor, and a decorative cast-iron porch above. This type of "parade

balcony” was a popular feature on commercial buildings o f the mid-nineteenth century.

Large and impressive buildings heightened the sense of drama which visitors associated

with town centers. Civic pride in the late nineteenth century demanded that governments

and private citizens work together to create a unique sense of place.

In the 1870s, four o f the most recognizable buildings in Mauch Chunk stood

near the pivotal intersection o f Susquehanna Street and Broadway: the Lehigh Valley

Railroad Office, the Carbon County Courthouse, the Packer Mansion, and S t Marie’s

Episcopal Church. Here, the economic, social, and political power bases of Carbon

County came head-to-head. At the time of the Packers’ wedding anniversary, the .

courthouse was smaller than the railroad office, but it was taller and more embellished.74

The ionic columns on the facade, coupled with the building’s tower, symbolized the rule

of law and expressed the community’s confidence in its future. In the mid-nineteenth

century, growing towns like Mauch Chunk thrived on the notion of their own potential

importance. Americans believed that the right combination of foresight and

determination could turn towns like Mauch Chunk into regional centers of commerce.

The Packer Mansion was designed to invite comparison with the courthouse

and with the railroad office building. Although smaller, its location gave it an air of

superiority.75 From Broadway, the mansion appeared to crown a mountain summit. Its

site proclaimed the role that the Packers played in the community, and its placement

insured the greatest exposure throughout the valley. Quite literally, it carved its own

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. niche in the community between two existing neighborhoods. It was neither on

Broadway, where many well-to-do families lived, nor on “the Heights,” which was a

working-class residential area. From where it stood, the Packer Mansion commanded a

view of the buildings at the center of community life, and at the crossroads of important

transportation routes. Over a hundred years earlier in Virginia, large plantations were

designed the same way:

The great planter intended that his landscape would be hierarchical, leading to himself at the center. 60s house was raised above the other buildings and was often set off from the surrounding countryside by a series of barriers or boundaries—fences and terraces.”7*

Asa Packer shared that view.

When evening guests arrived for the Packers' anniversary celebration,

nothing competed with the mansion for attention, because the building was brightly lit

for the occasion. Mauch Chunk’s gas-lit streets paled in comparison to the “calcium

lights” which illuminated the grounds. Their “brilliancy extend[ed] even to craggy hills,

and lighting up the grounds, trees, fountains, statuary and shrubbery. The effect was

beautiful and romantic.”77 These lights, which were similar to modem flares, gave the

mansion a festive appearance and added to the drama of approaching the mansion. A

participant recalled that “in the evening the scene was very brilliant. Without, calcium

lights shed a weird illumination. . . within a hundred argand burners cast their soft

rays.”71

After it intersected with Broadway, Susquehanna Street came to an abrupt

end where the courthouse abutted the mountainside. Carriages curved around the bend

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. and doubled back up the hill on Park Street, which led first to Packer Mansion, and then

to Upper Mauch Chunk. Although the curve leveled the grade somewhat, an icy surface

would have made this adifficult trek. As carriages started up the hill, visitors noticed the

old Josiah White house, which had since become the residence o f John Leisenring, a

Miauch Chunk businessman. A wrap-around porch and asquare cupola adorned this

simple frame house, but an elaborate romantic garden surrounded it. This garden, which

appears in a stereoptican view labeled "Pleasure Grounds,” had an oriental arched

bridge, birdhouse, and pagoda.79 Just beyond the Leisenring house, the Packer Mansion

and its grounds came into view.

The stone wall and decorative cast-iron fence which enclosed the grounds

symbolized the barrier between the Packers and local residents.10 On a typical day, only

the Packers’ friends and acquaintances were permitted beyond this point. Even those

who passed this test found that they did not have complete freedom of movement.

Landscape gardens defined the realm o f socially sanctioned interaction between the

Packers and their peers.*1 Naturalized plantings gave the illusion of informality, but

groups of stones neatly defined where guests were permitted to walk. Winding

pathways encouraged visitors to pay tribute to the Packers by lingering over different

vistas of the mansion, their most personal monument. “Mr. Packer’s residence,” an

observer said at the time of the anniversary, “... stands on the slope of a steep bluff and

is surrounded by grounds tastefully laid out and intersected with serpentine walks.”*2

The effect was similar at Mount Airy, a plantation house in Richmond County, Virginia,

where “the curved drive show[ed] the visitor the house from a variety of tantalizing

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. prospects.”*3 At the Packer Mansion, the visitor's approach could be completely

controlled, because the mansion’s hillside location prevented access from other

directions.

On the day o f the celebration, the Packers’ invited guests felt privileged,

because they were allowed to bypass the approach through the garden. Their carriages

pulled straight into the driveway between the Asa Packer Mansion and the Harry Packer

house next door. After stepping down from their carriages, visitors ascended a set of

stairs to the veranda, which led to the front door. By contrast, most Mauch Chunk

houses were directly accessible from street level. The front entrance of these houses was

both a formal greeting area and a service entrance. In the Packer Mansion, different

entrances served different purposes. The front door was reserved for callers and invited

guests, while the office door was meant for Asa Packer’s exclusive use. Access to

service areas was hidden from everyone but the family and the household staff. Of all the

outbuildings, only the greenhouse and the grapery were visible from the front of the

house.

Once the Packers’ guests had climbed up to the veranda, they had a clear

view of the courthouse and the railroad office below, and o f St. Mark’s Episcopal

Church across the valley. The dialogue between the mansion and the church was

intentional, because it reminded residents and visitors of Asa Packer’s importance to the

parish. Packer had provided a large part of the funds needed to build a new, larger

church building in 1867. Far from a simple replacement, this building was designed in

the latest Gothic Revival style by the nationally-known architectural firm of Richard

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Upjohn.14 As patrons of the construction effort, the Packers brought prestige to

themselves and to Mauch Chunk. The symbolic link between St. Mark’s and the Packer

Mansion followed guests into the mansion itsel£ because the Packers made design

choices which suggested a church interior. The Packers conceptualized their mansion

not as an isolated building, but as part of a broader landscape which they had helped to

create.15 The veranda was a zone of transition between different levels of the family’s

private space.

Visitors’ experience inside the Packer Mansion was limited, just as it was

outside, to a few select spaces. The functions which each room served at this event were

comparable to their everyday use, but exaggerated to serve the needs of the occasion.

Victorian social calls usually involved a series of screens which separated callers from

hosts. The hall was a filter, and permission to step into the parlor or any other room was

a privilege. Guests were allowed to see only as much as their hosts wished them to see.

The more important the caller, the more extensive the access to the house. The Packers’

wedding anniversary presented casual acquaintances the opportunity to see more of the

house than they usually would.

As the double front doors swung open to welcome the Packers’ well-

wishers, the strains of Mendelssohn’-s Wedding March and the scent of fresh-cut tropical

flowers filled the air. The main hallway established a grand scale appropriate to the

landscape outside. An “immense throng” of people gathered at the mansion throughout

the afternoon and evening, and late arrivals worked their way through a dense crowd.14

Grafula’s Seventh Regiment Band from New York City played at the rear of the main

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. hallway, wedged under a staircase which amplified the music. The evening was also

punctuated with the sound o f the Mauch Chunk Comet Band, whose members

“acquitted themselves very creditably”*7 Just inside the doorway, visitors handed their

coats and hats to the household staff The first social duty o f invited guests was to

present their calling cards. In addition to their own cards, they carried cards for friends

who chose not to attend.

The first part o f the wedding anniversary celebration was timed to coincide

with the proper time for social visits, three o’clock in the afternoon. Victorians thrived

on the notion that they had inherited the rules of etiquette from an ancient code of

chivalry. The calling ritual “probably derives from royal examples of earlier times, for

the dual purpose of preserving social status and distinctions and ritualizing interactions

recalls courtly protocol for audiences or interviews.”** Although the Packers’ invitations

offered guests the choice of attending in the afternoon or in the evening, the timing of

the afternoon event implied that it was intended for regular callers. A newspaper report

confirmed that the afternoon guests were “principally the older and more intimate

friends.”*9 The evening affair featured a larger group which included many of Asa

Packer’s business acquaintances. His sons Harry and Robert invited their friends to

attend at that time, because “the evening festivities were intended more especially for the

young folks.”90 Throughout the evening, carriages delivered more guests.

After passing through the hallway, guests moved toward the parlor, where

Asa and Sarah Packer waited to greet them. Victorians used the parlor to assert social

position and prestige, so this room was the logical focal point of the celebration. Its size

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. and decoration told visitors where theirhosts stood in the social hierarchy. On the other

side of the main hallway, the dining room and the sitting room served as an informal area

where guests greeted each other.

A few days after the event, the NewYofcD aity Graphic printed an

illustration which showed the Packers standing side-by-side, shaking hands at the end of

a line which winds its way around the parlor.91 Mr. Packer wore tails, and his wife was

dressed in a hooped skirt Newspapers spared no details: "The Judge is a tali man

whose form is a little bent with age,” said one source, and "his wife, a rather large lady

. . . was attired in a plain black silk dress and wore no ornaments.”92 Sarah Packer

adopted the same unassuming demeanor which the public associated with her husband.

The two of them together presented a storybook image of Victorian virtue. In a kind of

reverie, an observer placed them in their social context:

. . . ex-Associate Judge, ex-member of Congress, founder of Lehigh University, financier, millionaire, railroad king—and his venerable wife are celebrating their golden wedding in their beautiful home, on the nigged banks of the Lehigh, surrounded by two generations of their children and social stars, philosophers, men o f letters, money kings and merchant princes”

A Victorian couple could ask for no higher praise than public recognition of their role as

the matriarch and patriarch of a successful extended family.

The anniversary committee arranged elaborate party decorations throughout

the public rooms of the house. “Indeed nothing that care in attention to details, and

lavish expenditure could obtain, was wanting to make the affair grand and impressive.”94

Embroidered fabric adorned the parlor fireplace, and floral bouquets from the Packers’

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. own conservatory were placed on mantelpieces and window sills.*3 fa the nineteenth

century, it was difficult to muster such displays without a nearby greenhouse, because

live flowers could not be transported over long distances. Guests reserved their highest

praise far the arrangement in the dining room, which spelled out the date of the party,

“January 23,1878.” The MauchChunk Democrat described it as “a magnificent stand

of choice flowers, a present from the officers of the Lehigh Valley Coal Company”

Throughout the two Packer homes, an “army of waiters” served the “elegant

collations” of a New York City caterer.* Guests found “a delicate repast of ices, cakes,

and confections” at the Asa Packer Mansion, and “salads and heavier comestibles” at

Harry Packer’s.97 Hosting the dinner gave Harry Packer the opportunity to draw

attention to his recently constructed mansion, and to remove the nuisance of food

preparation from his parents’ home. The kitchen in the Asa Packer Mansion was

sufficient for everyday use, but not large enough for entertaining on such a grand scale.

Floor and table space was limited, and a stove and an icebox were the only appliances*

Storage areas were located in the basement, and in cave-like spaces carved from the

mountainside immediately behind the mansion. Household staff had access to these

rooms through exterior doors in the kitchen and in the basement.

Despite the claim that “all ceremony was dispensed with,” the Packers’

wedding anniversary celebration was a choreographed testimonial to the Protestant work

ethic.99 At the start o f the celebration, the anniversary committee organized a short

presentation to honor the couple. Guests were surprised that the priest who married

them did not perform a remarriage ceremony. Instead, a series of speeches was the

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. highlight of the occasion. Sarah Packer’s brother, James Blakslee, addressed the group,

followed by Asa Packer, who said “a few brief and touching sentences.”100 Henry

Copp^e, a close friend of the Packers, had planned to read a poem recounting his lifetime

o f experiences with the couple, but he was unable to attend. In his absence, each guest

received a copy of the poem. The entire Mauch Chunk community later had a chance to

read it in the local newspaper.101

When the speakers concluded their remarks, anniversary committee members

presented Asa and Sarah Packer with tokens of their esteem.102 Asa Packer accepted a

“gold watch of antique design, inscribed with their names” and Sarah Packer received “a

pair of gold-bowed spectacles” and a “gold/onyx necklace.”103 In addition, Asa Packer

received a “watercolor painting allegory” which told the story of his journey through

life.104 The last order of business was a formal recognition of anniversary committee

members. The principal focus of attention was Robert Sayre, who was a key member of

the committee and one of Asa Packer’s closest business associates. Sayre’s friends

wanted to embarrass him, because he was known as an “incorrigible practical joker.”105

His fellow committee members gave him a caricature drawn by FH. Taylor of the New

Y ork Daily Graphic.

After the presentations, the Packers greeted guests, older visitors lounged in

the parlor, and early arrivals went home. At half past ten, the Packers said their

goodbyes and retired from the party.104 “Quite a large number of the guests made their

adieu in time to take a special train which left here at eleven o’clock.”107 The festivities

then shifted to Harry Packer’s house, where dancing continued until half past eleven:

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. “after paying their respects to the venerable couple the guests spent the time in social

enjoyment and dancing.”10*

Through this event, the Packers were able to coordinate their legacy as the

matriarch and patriarch ofMauch Chunk society. They created an indelible image in the

public consciousness. The success of their effort was evident in newspaper reporters’

wide-eyed accounts of the gathering. Their frequent use of the word “scene” was no

accident, because they recognized that this event was aperformance designed for public

consumption. Stylized descriptions revealed the influence of popular literature. “The

jam of handsome women and men under the flashing gas jets,” one observer said, “made

a scene unequaled in fairy land.”1® Participants agreed that “this had been one of the

happiest occasions of their lives.”110 This atmosphere of nobility was what the Packers

worked to create. Friends and acquaintances journeyed to meet them on their own

terms, and they eagerly allowed the Packers to control both the medium and the

message.

The timing of the event near the end of the Packers’ lives had another

purpose. It was a kind of Irving memorial service where friends had an opportunity to

eulogize the Packers in person. Guests at the celebration understood that this was the

last major social event which the couple would host. Party decorations reinforced the

sense that a pair of lives was drawing to a close. As if to equate the Packers’ lives with

the change of seasons, “beautifully shaded and graduated autumn leaves” were arranged

throughout the house.m A tinge of sadness affected many of the older guests, as they

lamented the passing of a generation.112 The priest who had married the Packers was

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. especially poignant, saying, “may your sun set without a cloud." Comparisons and

analogies were the rule.

In the evening of life Judge Packer finds himself surrounded by children who inherit the virtues and thrift of the parents, and grandchildren who may yet live to see the region of the Lehigh the focus of a great series of industries o f which all that is or has been is but a foretaste.

The moral to the story was that the Packers* wise judgment and good fortune would

benefit the community for years to come. The MauchCbunkDemocrat offered the hope

“that prosperity and happiness may continue to attend them and all their children.”113 A

little more than a year later, Asa Packer died in Philadelphia, and was buried in Mauch

Chunk on a bluff above his mansion. His will stipulated that his wife Sarah be allowed to

live in the mansion for the rest of her life, and that his daughter Mary would inherit that

right after her mother’s death. Sarah Packer died in 1882.

Despite Asa Packer’s plans to create a durable financial and social

foundation for his family, he was largely unable to control the destiny of the next

generation. The couple’s sons, Robert and Harry Packer, began their business careers by

managing different aspects of their father’s empire. Robert received a technical

education, and became superintendent of two different railroads, the Pennsylvania and

New York, and the Geneva, Ithaca, and Athens. He followed his father’s lead in politics

and ran for Congress in 1880. He built a mansion of his own in Sayre, Pennsylvania,

near the New York state border. In 1883, while visiting the family’s vacation home in

Jacksonville, Florida, he contracted pneumonia and died. His brother Harry attended

Lehigh University, which his father had founded, and became a local judge. He rapidly

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. rose through the ranks ofthe Lehigh Valley Railroad from a division superintendent, to a

member o f the board of directors, to the company's president. Within a year of his

brother Robert’s death, Harry also died.

After the death of her parents and both of her brothers, Mary Packer still did

not inherit Asa Packer’s fortune. She was free to do what she wanted with the Packer

Mansion, but atrusteeship committee maintained control over her father’s assets. A

generous stipend gave her the ability to maintain her standard ofliving, while also paying

for charitable gifts and numerous trips to Europe. Mary Packer filled the house with her

own decorative objects, which typified what wealthy Americans collected on vacations

abroad in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Curio cabinets in the parlor

recorded her travels to places like Venice, where she bought ceramics and glassware. In

188S, she married Charles Cummings, a New York businessman. The wedding took

place in the mansion’s dining room. Their marriage proved to be short-lived. Until her

death in 1912, she lived alone with a small household staff and a personal assistant.

Mary Packer redecorated the parlor and the master bedroom, but these were

superficial changes that did not significantly alter her parents’ legacy. Her respect for

their memory was sincere, because she later memorialized them by willing the mansion to

Mauch Chunk Borough. This gift was contingent upon the borough agreeing to set

aside the house, its contents, and grounds as “Packer Memorial Park.” Since 1956, the

Tim Thorpe Lions Club has operated the mansion as a house museum which is open to

the public. The National Park Service has also recognized the Asa Packer Mansion as a

National Historic Landmark, a rare distinction which confirms its national significance.

Reproduced with permission ofthe copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ENDNOTES

1. In 19S4, residents of Mauch Chunk Borough and East Mauch Chunk Borough, which lie on opposite banks of the Lehigh River, voted to become a single municipality called the Borough o f Jim Thorpe. The new name honors an athlete who won several medals at the 1912 International Olympic Games in Stockholm, Sweden. 2. Eighteenth-century Virginia planters set the stage for industrialists like Asa Packer. “The planter appropriated to himself the prerogatives and the good of the community. In effect, the plantation was a village, with the planter’s house as its town hall. But the economic activities of this village were intended to enrich a single individual, so far as it was in his power to control them ” These plantations also resemble the Packer Mansion in that they “functioned as settings for public interactions. . . that worked together to embody the community as a whole.” Dell Upton, “White and Black Landscapes in Eighteenth-Century Virginia,” inMaterial life in America 1600-1860, edited by Robert Blair St. George (Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1988), 362-363. 3. My interpretation of this event borrows heavily from Clifford Geertz, who defined a type of material culture analysis called “thick description.” Clifford Geertz, The Interpretation o f Cultures, Chapter 1, “Thick Description: Toward an Interpretive Theory of Culture” (New York: Basic Books, 1973), 3-30.

4. As Dell Upton puts it, “An individual’s perception of a landscape changes with the experience of moving through it.” Upton, “White and Black Landscapes,” 357.

5. Asa Packer and Sarah M. Blakslee Golden Wedding Anniversary Scrapbook, Archives and Special Collections, Linderman Library, Lehigh University, 49. (Hereinafter cited as Packer Scrapbook).

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 6. Kenneth L. Ames, “Meaning in Artifacts: Hall Furnishings in Victorian America” in Common Places: Readings in American Vernacular Architecture, edited by DeU Upton and John Michael Vlach (Athens, GAand London: University of Georgia Press, 1986), 255. 7. Mauch ChunkDemocrat, 26 January 1878. Collection of John D. Gunsser, Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania. 8. Philadelphia Press, 24 January 1878. Periodical Reading Room, Free Library of Philadelphia. 9. Mauch Chunk Democrat, 26 January 1878. 10. “Married Fifty Years. Judge Packer Celebrates His Golden Wedding,” n.p., n.d., in Packer Scrapbook. 11. “Married Fifty Years,” in Packer Scrapbook.

12. Mauch Chunk Democrat, 26 January 1878.

13. “The Golden Wedding Reception of Hon. and Mrs. Asa Packer. Mauch Chunk’s Latest Great Event,” n.p., n.d., in Packer Scrapbook. 14. “Golden Wedding Reception,” in Packer Scrapbook.

15. “Golden Wedding Reception,” in Packer Scrapbook.

16. “A Golden Wedding. Judge Packer’s Jubilee—A Notable Day in the Lehigh Valley,” n.p., n.d., in Packer Scrapbook. 17. “Married Fifty Years,” in Packer Scrapbook.

18. Thomas D. Eckhart, The History o f Carbon County, Volume 1 (Nevada, IA: Thomas D. Eckhart and the Carbon History Project, 1992), 131. 19. Like representatives from many other institutions who were indebted to Asa Packer, Lehigh University alumni were prominent guests at the Packers’ wedding anniversary celebration. They presented Packer with a long and detailed proclamation in his honor.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 20. Ames observes that interior design books published at the time of the Packers’ anniversary “[disparage] most mass-produced furnishings in favor of antiques and pieces in the English reform style sensitively combined.” Ames, “Hall Furnishings," 243,252. Growing concern about the place of machine-made objects in domestic life later inspired the Arts and Crafts movement. 21. Although this Philadelphia house no longer stands, many similar houses survive in the same neighborhood.

22. Ames notes that “Domestic building in America is more notable for continuity than lack of it Georgian concepts of spatial organization were perpetuated in Victorian houses.” Ames, “Hall Furnishings,” 244.

23. “A Notable Day,” in Packer Scrapbook.

24. The mansion’s floor original plan has remained largely intact. The only significant changes were made in the basement, where new walls were built to enclose the boiler and to create a waiting area for visitors waiting to tour the house.

25. Ames, "Ball Furnishings,” 244. 26. Mauch Chunk Democrat, 26 January 1878.

27. According to Ames, “Plate glass was still expensive in the nineteenth century and its prominent display was a sign of wealth and, as Thorstein Veblen argued, high social standing.” Ames, “Hall Furnishings,” 250.

28. Eckhart, The History o f Carbon County, 300.

29. Balustrades of this type remain in place on the staircase between the kitchen and the servants’ bedrooms, and on the staircase to the cupola. 30. The service areas have remained faithful to their original appearance, because they lie outside public view. The woodwork in the library is the only surviving example of grain-painting in the mansion’s public areas. It is likely that some of the rooms were painted with ashlar finishes as well, but evidence of this type of wall treatment is no longer visible in the building.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 31. Scattered examples of Rococo Revival furniture remain In the stair hall, the parlor, the sitting room, and the library. To date the furniture conclusively, it would be necessary to study manufacturers* records. The only surviving inventory o f the mansion’s contents was taken in 1911, more than twenty- five years after Asa and Sarah Packer had passed away. By the early years of the twentieth century, the Packers’ daughter Mary split up suites of furniture and spread their components among different rooms. 32. It is uncertain whether guests at the anniversary celebration saw any Greek Revival furniture in the mansion. Surviving examples of this style are now located in servants'rooms on the second and third floors. These objects may have been placed there when the Packers bought new furniture for their own bedrooms. 33. Respect for the library as a gentleman’s domain later discouraged Mary Packer, Asa Packer’s daughter, from remodeling this room after her father’s death.

34. Ames has researched Asa Packer’s suite of office furniture. Kenneth L. Ames, “Designed in France: Notes on the Transmission of French Style to America,” Winterthur Portfolio 12 (1977), 107-114.

35. Although no direct references link these two events, the Packers surely had their anniversary in mind when they began the remodeling. 36. Mauch Chunk Democrat, 26 January 1878.

37. While evidence of this change is hidden in the wall, the asymmetrical arrangement of windows along the house’s rear facade supports the notion that these windows were added. If the facade were meant to be symmetrical, the dining room upsets that sense ofbalance. The massed triple window in that room differs from the windows above it and across from it, which are unmassed pairs.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 38. In 1885, Mary Packer was married in the Packer Mansion. Some objects and w ill treatments which remain in the dining room and sitting room may date from that time. The sitting room’s overmantel mirror, which matches the woodwork throughout the room, is divided into several sections. On either side of the center section is a panel carved with the initials “MP” (for Mary Packer) surrounded by a floral garland. The naturalised “art nouveau” quality of the flowers could date them many years after the original installation of the woodwork. Another piece of evidence suggests that the overmantel was altered. A curio cabinet in the butler’s room, on the second floor at the rear o f the mansion’s east side, closely resembles the mantel shelf in the sitting room. This cabinet appears to be a part o f the original overmantel arrangement. If installed in the sitting room, it would complement the pier mirror on the adjacent wall.

39. It is possible that the mansion’s stained glass was not installed until Asa and Sarah Packer’s daughter Mary lived in the mansion. Mary Packer’s 1885 wedding was ample incentive for this change, because the ceremony was held in the house. The windows’ oriental floral pattern is similar to windows in the Ballantine House in Newark, New Jersey, which was built in 1886. The Ballantine House is now a part of the Newark Museum.

40. The textured surfaces date from a later period. 41. Ceiling fixtures in the dining room and sitting room were later fitted for electricity. When electric power became available during Mary Packer’s tenure in the mansion, she replaced utilitarian fixtures with electric ones, and converted decorative gasoliers by attaching a set of electric lights to the original frames. This practice was common in the waning years of the nineteenth century. Many fixtures at that time contained were fitted for both gas and electric, because it was uncertain whether electric lights would become standard in American homes. Mary Packer carried the electric conversion process one step further with the ceiling fixture in the sitting room. After first installing electric lights on this fixture in the late nineteenth century, she later added a Tiffany-inspired glass lampshade.

42. While the overmantel carvings in the sitting room match the color of the surrounding woodwork, Mary Packer installed these carvings in the late nineteenth or early twentieth century.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 43. The drawing is true to many aspects of the room’s present appearance. The overmantel mirror, some of the furniture, and a few of the Packers’ ceramics remain in the mansion. The rectangular ceiling panels may represent the room’s original appearance, or they may be examples o f artistic license on the part o f the illustrator. These ceiling panels do not reflect the room’s present appearance, and they are not characteristic o f the mid-nineteenth century, when the house was built

44. UA Notable Day,” in Packer Scrapbook. An example ofthis type of decoration survives on a hidden section o f wall in the Packer Mansion parlor. Underneath the overmantel mirror is a pattern of floral vines which differs from the textured surface in the rest o f the room. This pattern may not be original to the mansion’s construction, but at the very least, it indicates that the present wall treatment was a later installation.

45. Many of the objects which remain in the house today are examples of styles which were popular when the house was built. This observation says as much about the conservative tastes of the Packers’ daughter Mary, as it does about the Packers themselves. 46. "A Notable Day,” in Packer Scrapbook. 47. “Golden Wedding Reception,” in Packer Scrapbook.

48. “Golden Wedding Reception,” in Packer Scrapbook. In order to tell the story of the Packers’ life, the anniversary committee may have hung family portraits where guests were most likely to see them. This arrangement might explain why only portraits were visible, but a more plausible explanation is that portraits were the only type of painting which the Packers owned. 49. Mauch Chunk Democrat, 26 January 1878.

50. “Golden Wedding Reception,” in Packer Scrapbook.

51. Mauch Chunk Democrat, 26 January 1878.

52. “Judge Packer’s Golden Wedding. A Graceful Tribute from the Many Friends of That Distinguished Gentleman,” n.p., n.d., in Packer Scrapbook.

53. Mauch Chunk Democrat, 26 January 1878.

54. “Married Fifty Years,” in Packer Scrapbook.

55. “A Graceful Tribute,” in Packer Scrapbook.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 56. Passes alone were not enough to convince many invitees to attend, because such passes were common currency among railroad employees. Railroad companies sometimes granted employees free passage on trains operating within the same network, and railroad executives often issued annual rail passes to friends. Asa Packer himself provided at least one such pass to a clergyman. That pass is preserved in the Packer scrapbook.

57. Archives and Special Collections, Linderman Library, Lehigh University.

58. Mauch Chunk D em ocrat, 26 January 1878.

59. “A Notable Day,” in Packer Scrapbook.

60. Winterthur Library, microfilm. Copies of city directories for the 1870s are available for Philadelphia and Scranton, Pennsylvania; New York, New York; and Washington, DC. Directory listings for guests whose names appear in the Packer Scrapbook provide information about their occupations and places of residence. 61. A handwritten note in the anniversary scrapbook indicates that Asa Packer knew Sloan personally. This relationship suggests that Sloan played a role in designing the mansion, or in remodeling it for the celebration.

62. “A Graceful Tribute,” in Packer Scrapbook.

63. Mauch Chunk D em ocrat, 26 January 1878.

64. “A Graceful Tribute,” in Packer Scrapbook.

65. “Golden Wedding Reception,” in Packer Scrapbook.

66. PhiladelphiaIn quirer, 24 January 1878. Periodical Reading Room, Free Library ofPhiladelphia.

67. PhiladelphiaP ress, 24 January 1878.

68. Dell Upton calls this landscape of power an “articulated processional landscape.” “It was articulated,” he says, “in the sense that it consisted of a network of spaces—rooms in the house, the house itself the outbuildings, the church with its interior pews and surrounding walled churchyard, the courthouse and its walled yard—that were linked by roads and functioned as the settings for public interactions. . . that worked together to embody the community as a whole.” The Packer Mansion achieved much the same effect. Upton, “White and Black Landscapes,” 363.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 69. "A Notable Day,” in Packer Scrapbook. 70. M auch C\axck.Democrat, 26 Januaiy 1878. The New Jersey Central Railroad also served the borough, but this line competed with Packer’s railroad, so fewer guests traveled on these tracks.

71. Ironically, in the late twentieth century, the Borough of Jim Thorpe (formerly Mauch Chunk) sits amidst green slopes which attract hikers and bicyclists. Tourism is an important component of the borough’s economy.

72. PhiladelphiaP ress, 24 January 1878. 73. The Lehigh Valley Railroad Company replaced this building in 1886 with a much larger edifice on the same site. This building stands today, but it has been converted into apartments for the elderly.

74. The present Carbon County Courthouse is not the one which stood on the site in 1878. The courthouse which stood at that time was the second courthouse, which was constructed about 18S0 and demolished in 1893 to make way for the present building. The design o f the second courthouse was similar to the present Chester County (Pennsylvania) Courthouse, which was built during the same period. 75. At the time of the anniversary celebration, the mansion and S t Mark’s Church overpowered the courthouse, which sat on a less elevated site. In 1893, the county redressed the balance when it built a new courthouse with a large clock tower.

76. Upton, “White and Black Landscapes,” 362.

77. Mauch ChunkD em ocrat, 26 January 1878.

78. “A Notable Day,” in Packer Scrapbook.

79. Collection of John D. Gunsser.

80. Although these gates do not survive today, they appear in a nineteenth- century engraving of the mansion. This image appears in a collective biography entitledHistoric Homes and Institutions and Genealogical and Personal Memoirs o f the Lehigh Valley Pennsylvania, edited by George T. Ettinger, Edgar M. Green, and John W. Jordan (New York and Chicago: Lewis Publishing Co., 1905).

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 81. Upper middle-class Mauch Chunk residents alio maintained formal gardens which marked them as people of status. A late nineteenth-century stereoptican view ofBroadway shows a garden which rivals the Packers' garden in detail, but not in size. 82. “A Notable Day,” in Packer Scrapbook.

83. Upton, "White and Black Landscapes,” 363. 84. The 1867 church budding described here is the one which still stands in Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania. After the deaths o f Asa and Sarah Packer, members of the Packer family memorialized each other through a series of gifts to S t Mink's Church. When Asa Packer died in 1879 (the year after the anniversary celebration), Sarah Packer presented a reredos which is dedicated “To the Glory of God and in Memory of Asa Packer.” In 1883, when Asa and Sarah Packer’s son Harry died unexpectedly, the remaining members of the family donated a lectern in his honor.

85. This world of deliberate symbolic relationships resembles another place familiar to the Packers. In 1858, just before construction began on the Packer Mansion, Robert Sayre built a mansion overlooking the town of South Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Sayre was the superintendent of the Lehigh Valley Railroad, which Asa Packer owned. Like the Packers, the Sayres built a mansion overlooking an Episcopal church which they attended. After Asa and Sarah Packer’s death, Mary Packer Cummings, their daughter, continued to memorialize her family through religious architecture. She commissioned a chapel addition to S t Mark's Church in Mauch Chunk, and another chapel on the Lehigh University campus. 86. “Golden Wedding Reception,” in Packer Scrapbook.

87. Mauch ChunkD em ocrat, 26 January 1878.

88. Ames, “Hall Furnishings,” 254.

89. Mauch Chunk D em ocrat, 26 January 1878.

90. Mauch Chunk D em ocrat, 26 January 1878.

91. No source mentions whether photographers attended the celebration, and no photographs of the event have been found. After the death of her parents, Mary Packer replaced many of the wall treatments and light fixtures which appear in the only known sketch of the celebration. 92. “Married Fifty Years,” in Packer Scrapbook.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 93. “ANotable Day,” in Packer Scrapbook.

94. “Married Fifty Years,” in Packer Scrapbook.

95. “A Graceful Tribute,” in Packer Scrapbook.

96. “A Notable Day” and “Married Fifty Years,” in Packer Scrapboolq Mauch Chunk Democrat, 26 January 1878.

97. Mauch Chunk Democrof, 26 January 1878.

98. The original stove survives in place. Its 1859 patent date corresponds to the year when construction began on the Packer Mansion. 99. Mauch Chunk Democnzf, 26 January 1878.

100. “Married Fifty Years,” in Packer Scrapbook.

101. “Golden Wedding Reception,” in Packer Scrapbook.

102. “A Graceful Tribute,” in Packer Scrapbook. 103. Mauch Chunk D em ocrat, 26 January 1878.

104. Asa Packer was given a similar work of art when he endowed Lehigh University in 1865. The 1865 painting still hangs in the mansion, but the present location of the 1878 painting and the rest of the Packers’ fiftieth wedding anniversary gifts is unknown.

105. “A Notable Day,” in Packer Scrapbook.

106. “Married Fifty Years,” in Packer Scrapbook.

107. Mauch Chunk D em ocrat, 26 January 1878.

108. “A Notable Day,” in Packer Scrapbook.

109. “Married Fifty Years,” in Packer Scrapbook.

110. Mauch Chunk D em ocrat, 26 January 1878.

111. Mauch Chunk D em ocrat, 26 January 1878.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 112. Letters which old friends wrote to Asa and Sarah Packer in honor of their anniversary were frequently somber in tone. Children of the Packers’ friends more often praised themfbr their accomplishments. These letters survive in the anniversary scrapbook.

113. Mauch CfaunkZteifiocraf, 26 January 1878.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. BIBLIOGRAPHY

isrv Sonrce»

An Outline o fthe Career o f the Han. Asa Packer, ofPennsylvania. Bethlehem; Amos C. Clauder, 1867. Lindennan Library, Lehigh University.

“Asa Packer and Sarah M. Blakslee, Golden Wedding, 1828-1878” Lindennan Library, Lehigh University.

Biographical material on relatives of Asa Packer, both contemporary and descendants. Lindennan Library, Lehigh University.

City directories. Philadelphia and Scranton, Pennsylvania; New York, New York; and Washington, DC, 1870-1878. Winterthur Library. Microfilm.

Coppee, Henry. “Asa Packer: A Memorial Address Delivered by Request of the Faculty of the Lehigh University on University Day, June 19, 1879.” Linderman Library, Lehigh University.

Gunsser, John D. Personal collection. Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania.

“In the Court of Common Pleas of Carbon County. Asa Packer vs. Joseph Noble, et al.” Master’s report, 1857. Lindennan Library, Lehigh University.

“Launching of a New Pleasure Barge, the Iroquois, Built at the Boat Works of Messrs. A. & R.W. Packer” Clipping from the Reading [PA] G azette , 16 September 1843. Linderman Library, Lehigh University.

Leavitt, John McDowell. “Memorial to Hon. Asa Packer: Founder of the Lehigh University, June 15th, 1879.” Philadelphia: McCalla& Stavely, 1879. Linderman Library, Lehigh University.

Packer, Asa. Biographical brochures, will and estate documents, clippings, and correspondence. Illustrations of home in Mauch Chunk. Linderman Library, Lehigh University.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. . Correspondence, notes, and memorabilia. Lindennan Library, Lehigh University.

. Last will and testament, 1879. Linderman Library, Lehigh University.

. Settlement of estate accounts, 1879-1889. Lindennan Library, Lehigh University.

Packer, Asa, family. Information about relatives, both contemporaries and descendants. Linderman Library, Lehigh University.

Packer, Harry. Will, legal papers, and correspondence; some tied to settlement of Asa Packer estate. Lindennan Library, Lehigh University.

PhiladelphiaIn quirer, 24 January 1878. Periodical Reading Room, Free Library of Philadelphia.

PhiladelphiaP ress, 24 January 1878. Periodical Reading Room, Free Library of Philadelphia.

“Records of the Testimonial to the Hon. Asa Packer, ofMauch Chunk, Carbon County, Pennsylvania. Given by His Fellow-Chizens, at Bethlehem, Nov. 23, 1865.” Linderman Library, Lehigh University. Photocopy.

Secondary Sources

Ames, Kenneth L. Death in the Dining Room and Other Tales o f Victorian Culture. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1992.

. “Designed in France: Notes on the Transmission of French Style to America.” Winterthur Portfolio 12(1977): 107-114.

. “Meaning in Artifacts: Hall Furnishings in Victorian America” in Common Places: Readings in American Vernacular Architecture. Edited by Dell Upton and John Michael Vlach. Athens and London: University of Georgia Press, 1986.

Bookholt, John Henry. The Story ofMauch Chunk, “The Switzerland o fAmerica, ” 1818-1898. Unpublished thesis, Lehigh University, 1951.

Bowen, Catherine Drinker. A History o f Lehigh University. Bethlehem: Times Publishing for Lehigh Alumni Bulletin, 1924.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Breckman, Frederick Charles. History o f Carbon County. Harrisburg: J. J. Nungesser, 19X3. Linderman Library, Lehigh University.

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